It's Lit: Chatting With Sam Maggs, The Mandalorian Book Tie-Ins, and Book Burnout
Did you know my husband named this podcast/newsletter? He’s a fellow prequel fan and way better at naming things than I am. I originally wanted to call this thing “Page Turners,” but the pun was already taken. I like this one better anyway.
It’s been a nonstop few months for the Star Wars book community, with an audio drama and two books already out into the world. One of them is already a best seller! That’s pretty cool.
After months of trying to make this newsletter a straight offshoot of the podcast, I’ve decided to give it the chance to grow beyond interview transcripts and book reviews. These things will still hit your inboxes more Tuesdays than not. But I wanted to give myself a little freedom to experiment with something new in addition to what’s already here.
Therefore—welcome to It’s Lit! This is your weekly breakdown of book news, summaries of other Star Wars bookish content I may have published here (or elsewhere) throughout the previous week (stay tuned!), interview highlights, and so much more!
There are a lot of great book newsletters out there—might I recommend Space Wizards Book Club? But the same way there will never be too many Star Wars books, you can never have too many Star Wars book nerds spreading their love of stories through strangers’ inboxes.
Let’s start with the coolest highlight of the week: I got to chat with NYT BEST SELLING author Sam Maggs about Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars. We did that! I laughed too hard at the wrong moment and spit water all over my keyboard! Legendary.
Sam Maggs on writing the stories she always wanted …
“Merrin is the kind of character we almost never get to see in media … I just want to write more Merrin!”
When Sam Maggs and I hopped onto a Zoom call a week before Battle Scars released, I felt the excited energy radiating from her immediately. I was her final task before getting on a plane for Emerald City Comic-Con—the calm before the storm. The last time she would talk about the book to the press before giving the first early copies away in Seattle.
In all the interviews I’ve done, I’ve never laughed so much or so hard. I’ve apologized to Ashley Eckstein for my dog’s affinity for loud toys. I’ve lamented to Roseanne Brown about AirPods and how they never EVER connect when and how they’re supposed to.
I’ve never gasped into my microphone so unexpectedly at the mention of my favorite character, or felt an author’s love for her work and her fandoms as deeply as I did while talking with Sam.
There’s something truly special about getting to share your love of Star Wars with the people responsible for making Star Wars happen. I may have been asking her a pre-written set of questions, but when there’s a shared passion of Star Wars between you, it’s more than that. It’s a conversation, and to me, a pretty good one.
You can read the full interview on Dork Side of the Force, or listen to our conversation on Episode 20 of Now This Is Lit.
Books to read if you liked The Mandalorian Chapter 19: “The Convert.”
This week’s episode of The Mandalorian heavily focused on the state of the galaxy’s government in the years following the formal collapse of the Galactic Empire. There were several moments it felt like the show made direct nods to the books—something that doesn’t happen often (because it doesn’t have to) and made having read them feel a little more special.
I’ve picked out some books that you might enjoy reading if the show particularly intrigued you this week. I know I’m itching to reread them, so even if you already have, there’s no harm in revisiting a few gems.
These books—and more—can help deepen your appreciation of the world this series is building. We haven’t seen much of the New Republic’s dealings in this time period on-screen yet. The books serve as much of the source material we have for better understanding why things are the way they are by the time we reach the sequel trilogy.
Now the live-action TV shows are getting in on the action, and that makes the expanded book universe that much more important and that much more valuable.
I’d like to close out these premiere It’s Lit shenanigans with some thoughts on something that’s been on my mind. I actually just talked about it with a guest—that episode is coming soon.
Reading Star Wars books is fun. But it doesn’t always feel that way.
Book burnout is real—and you’re not alone.
Have you ever picked up a Star Wars book excited to read it, struggled through a section or two of it and then put it down—not because it wasn’t good, but because you just couldn’t get into it?
This happened to me while reading Ronin in 2021. Ronin! I know.
It was September—the book was coming out in three weeks and I hadn’t started flipping through my review copy yet. When you review books professionally, there’s a long runway between finishing the book and its release date. You’re not just writing a review. You’re analyzing the book, looking at it from different angles, looking for points to cover in articles. Maybe you’re even lucky enough to get to interview the author, which takes a lot of prep time on top of reading the book.
I hadn’t even done the most basic part of the assignment yet. I was sort of relying on my procrastination adrenaline to kick in. It did no such thing.
In fact, I was so burned out in general that I could barely read one page of the book before having to set it down again. And it was a GOOD book! I just couldn’t get into the proper headspace to enjoy it.
At that time, I was getting ready to move across the country, change jobs, and basically start my whole life over—all good things, but not when you’re trying to read a book. I was doing four shows a week, interviewing as many people as I could. I was trying too hard to stretch my attention to cover too many things at once.
I did read Ronin. I loved it. But not as much as I knew I would have if I hadn’t been in the wrong headspace for it.
Book burnout happens to everyone. Sometimes you just don’t feel like reading. There’s nothing wrong with you! And then there’s that wild phenomenon when you want to read Lost Stars because you’ve never read Lost Stars but suddenly you’re reading a Thrawn book for the seventeenth time? How did that happen?
We burn out on books, or certain kinds of books (or authors or genres, the list goes on) because we burn out on life. You’re not imagining things if you sometimes feel like you have to be “in the right mood” to enjoy a book.
Stories, after all, are meant to be enjoyed! Sure, you want to stay in the know with these books. You want to read them along with everyone else. You want to finally tackle that trilogy everyone keeps begging you to read. But if you’re just not feeling it, you shouldn’t feel you HAVE to keep going.
Sometimes, how we feel about a book is a direct result of our feelings overall as we’re reading it. If you’re not having a great day, you might feel you’re not reading a great book—even if, deep down, you know you might feel differently if you were having a better day.
It’s OK to take a Star Wars book break. The books—and the people who can’t get enough of them—will still be there waiting for you when you’re ready for your grand return.
And that’s Lit! I mean that’s it. For now. There’s a new episode of the podcast coming your way, and—based on what just dropped in my inbox—it’s going to be quite an exciting one too.
Well, this has been fun. I’m off to start reading Cataclysm, because somehow, the release date is less than three weeks away …
Don’t worry. No major life events will steer me away from this one. I can’t wait to talk more about it soon.